Storage disincentives and regional dislocations roil European gas trading
The loss of Russian volumes has made for unusual market conditions
Record-breaking prices are not the only manifestation of disturbance at Europe’s gas trading hubs. The imposition of minimum storage levels requires injections but at the same time risks undermining the market economics of injecting. And attempting large-scale replacement of pipeline gas from the east with LNG from the west has highlighted previously unapparent bottlenecks in the European system that have caused locational price spreads to blow out, at times in entirely the opposite direction from their prevailing relationship. “The seasonal shape of the curve has been completely erased,” says Natasha Fielding, head of Emea gas pricing at price reporting agency Argus Media. By that, Fielding
Also in this section
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
8 January 2026
The region’s access to versatile feedstock, combined with policy support, is setting it up to meet growing demand both at home and abroad
7 January 2026
No longer can the energy source be considered a sidekick to oil in the Middle East and neither should it step aside for less convincing alternatives
